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POLITICO 44

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is drawing almost the same support from California voters as incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, according to recent polls.

Fiorina’s position on abortion? Not so much.

A full 71 percent of Californians favor either keeping the state’s liberal abortion laws intact or making abortion easier to obtain, according to new data from the Field Poll. The same percentage said they support the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

That’s a potential obstacle for Fiorina as she attempts to become the first anti-abortion candidate to win a California race at the top of the ticket since 1986. Former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian was the last abortion opponent to win a Senate or gubernatorial election; both subsequent GOP governors, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, supported abortion rights.

Californians’ support for abortion rights — and the Roe decision — has been more or less stable, hovering between 66 percent and 71 percent, since Field started asking the question in 1987.

Democratic consultant Garry South, a veteran California operative, predicted that the state’s pro-Roe lean would be “one of the things that ultimately does in Carly Fiorina.”

“This Field Poll reaffirms what we’ve known for years — even Republicans do not favor overturning Roe v. Wade or tinkering with a woman’s right to choose,” he said.

Fiorina spokeswoman Andrea Saul acknowledged the candidate “realizes a lot of voters don’t agree with her” on abortion, but predicted the social issue wouldn’t be a prime motivator for them this year.

“Voters are evaluating candidates and making decisions about who they’re going to support based on a wide range of issues, not just one,” she said, predicting that voters’ main concerns would be “jobs and out-of-control spending.”

The difficulty for Fiorina, said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, is that California Republicans need to win a solid percentage of independent voters — between 65 percent and 75 percent, he estimated — to make up for the state’s Democratic lean. Most of those independents support abortion rights.

“That’s a tough hill to climb, and it becomes harder when you’re on the wrong side of some of these issues voters care about,” he said, listing the environment and public education, as well as crime, among other top independent concerns.

Fiorina emphasized her position on abortion during the GOP Senate primary, when she was running against former Rep. Tom Campbell, who endorsed both abortion rights and gay marriage. Campbell argued that only a candidate who could neutralize Boxer’s advantage on social issues would be able to win the general election, but Fiorina retorted in a pre-primary interview with POLITICO: “It’s clear from the polling data that a pro-life candidate can win a statewide election in California.”

That’s a gamble Fiorina’s fellow statewide Republican candidate, gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, won’t have to take. Whitman has publicly stated that she supports abortion rights, making it essentially a nonissue in her campaign against Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown.

The Field Poll sampled 1,390 registered California voters from June 22 to July 5.

Readers' Comments (21)

The issue of abortion is very important indeed since the more people aborted or killed the less people around in the nation in the future. Thou shalt not kill . And thou shalt do no murdur are also in the Holy Bible and its not right. So those running for political office should remember this when running as being for abortion. Also recently as reported on fox news was a story about how some in the administration are influencing the elections in Kenya in having a new constitution that supports abortion and giving tax payer dollars to support changing it from the U.S.A. which is not right at all. Since the stimulous monies are to remain in this nation. Planned Parenthood was also involved with it . This should be if in violation of the law prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Sincerely

Why should Carly Fiorina care about giving American females choice over their bodies? Fiorina doesn't have any biological children, and she doesn't have biological daughters or granddaughters to worry about the way American mothers do. Carly is notoriously known to be a horrid boss to her workers, so expect her to be just as horrid to pregnant women and careless whether they die or not having to carry their embryos to full term. Carly's history at HP does reveal a Carly who only does what Carly wants, not what is best for others.

A survey of 8,000 employees at HP has revealed widespread unhappiness about Carly's poor communication and poorly implemented decisions. She was booed at company meetings! The company electronic bulletin board was shut down after employees used this forum to attack Fiorina.

Who would you save: A mother who will die if she has to carry her baby to full term, or the baby? Why does America send Troops to wars to kill and knowing some will be killed? Why do American courts commit some criminals to death sentences?

I think California has bigger issues to worry about than whether or not a candidate has a problem with abortion. This must have been a JournoList poll to distract people from the referendum on liberalism that has brought California to the brink of collapse.

Fiorina is running too strong. POLITICO must ATAAACK! You so-called journalists at POLITICO are so predictable its not even fun bashing you anymore (i.e. telling the truth). The moment a Republican starts to get traction you have to start earning the money the (D)'s buy you off with by publishing BS by the bucketfull. PATHETIC. I always wonder if you ever feel a twinge of guilt but just like when it comes to liberals killing babies, they can justify anything.

Oh, for Pete's sake! Roe vs Wade is the law of the land, and not likely to ever be overturned by one lady's personal feelings. The Dems always bring up abortion when they have nothing else to offer. California is ready to go off the cliff, and all they care about is abortion? Get with the program to save your State, people!

To me, this is a great sign of Fiorina's leadership. What you see is what you get. Her principles guide her. We can trust her. She's not beholden to the latest poll or the highest bidder.

The economy and Obama's abysmal failure will take front and center this fall. Fiorina will compete very well in this race. If this weren't true, why is Boxer so obviously concerned? Why isn't her considerable campaign war chest being spread around to others that "need it more"? The answer is she's in for the fight of her life and she knows it regardless of how a radical feminist tries to spin it.

The issue of abortion is very important indeed since the more people aborted or killed the less people around in the nation in the future. Thou shalt not kill . And thou shalt do no murdur are also in the Holy Bible and its not right.

I support Roe vs. Wade and I am very fearful that the Republicans want to overturn it. My bigger problem is that the Democrats are destroying my country and Americans need to get their priorities in order. I don't want to see Fiorina elected because her abortion views certainly don't align with mine. The bigger picture is that B.Box is an even bigger threat and needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of town along with many of her cohorts. Lets fix one problem at at a time. Lets get rid of B.Box and then worry about taking care of the Fiorina problem. We need to support Constitution first and foremost and the path to that is getting rid of the garbage presently in power. We will most likely have to deal with more garbage later on but we need to take care of the obvious for now. The rest will be a task for another day.